Τετάρτη, 18 Δεκεμβρίου 2013

THE SHOCKING WITNESS OF AN ORTHODOX PRIEST ABOUT THE REPENTANCE OF ZAMFIRA, A GYPSY

Dear People,

The
love of God for all of His creatures is beyond comprehension. The following real life story narrated by an
Orthodox priest from Moldavia reveals to us how powerful the love of God is for
those of us who sincerely repent of our grievous sins. There is no sin under the sun that is greater
than the love of God. Zamfira was a very
sinful person who had killed her own child, violated many laws of society,
lived an immoral life and she was incarcerated from the tender age of sixteen
for these misdeeds. Yet, it was in the
context of an Orthodox Christian prison ministry, that she found repentance and
the loving embrace of Jesus Christ. And
it was at the moment of spiritual cleansing through sacramental confession that
she was prepared to give up her soul to her Creator. The wisdom of God had determined that it was
the proper time for her to be taken from this world of tears. May this marvelous story be a lesson to all
of us who are living in a very sinful generation that it is never too late for
us to claim our rightful place in eternity.
It is for this reason that Jesus
died that horrible death on the Cross on Golgotha.

+Fr. Constantine (Charles) J. Simones,
December 16, 2013

THE
SHOCKING WITNESS OF AN ORTHODOX PRIEST

ABOUT
THE REPENTANCE OF ZAMFIRA, A GYPSY

“Seven
years ago I was the priest at the prison chapel of Prounkou in Kisivo,
Moldavia. Since I also serve in my
parish Church, I do services at the prison on Wednesdays and Fridays. I am helped by inmate volunteers in the
chapel. One of the responsibilities of
the volunteers is to assist the inmates who will participate in the chapel
services. They help them with the
readings from the service books that are found in our small library. I wish to relate to you something unusual that
happened in the fall of 2008.

The
prison of Prounkou is the only prison—hospital where both men and women are
housed. In one of the cells of the
surgery wing of the prison Zamfira, the gypsy was billeted. When one of the volunteers went to the cell
where Zamfira was housed asking who wanted to participate in the service the
following day, Zamfira said: “I will come but I will not need your books.” Zamfira was about thirty-six years old, she
was beautiful and from what I was told a person of loose morals. She had been in prison since she was sixteen
years of age because she had killed her child and was involved in other serious
crimes.

The
following day Zamfira came to the service at the chapel. On that particular day, we read the Canon of
Supplication to Jesus Christ, the service of Supplication to the Virgin Mary
and the Canon of the Holy Eucharist.
Zamfira sat in the back of the chapel. She was making fun of every
prayer that was said while making irreverent hand motions. This naturally disturbed me and the inmates
in the chapel. There were about
thirty-five men and women in the chapel.
No one dared to say anything to her because she had some kind of connection
with the occult. In spite of the fact
that she was thirty-six years old, she held a high position in the hierarchy of
the occult and all the inmates were aware this.
She gave a whole performance during the service and entertained some of
those present with jokes. I left her
alone and the only thing I asked her was: “What is your name?” She answered me,
“Zamfira.” I asked her to be quiet. She responded: “very well,” but she continued
doing what she had been doing.

Following
the service, I heard the confessions of everyone present. I said to a lady who
lived in the same cell with Zamfira: “I cannot give you Holy Communion
now. I want you to do penance and I want
you to come back in two weeks to receive Holy Communion.” Zamfira was the only person who did not come
to confession that day. I asked her if she was going to confess her sins. Her response was: “No, I am not coming to
confession because if you hear my confession the hairs of your nose will fall
out.” Then I responded: “Why then did you come to Church since you did not
confess, you did not pray and you did not listen to the service? Did you come just to pass the time of
day?” She said: “No, I came to see how
beautiful you are.” She answered all my questions curtly. I then said: “then let the will of God be
done.”

Two
weeks later, I sent a volunteer to the woman to whom I had given penance in
order to remind her to come to Communion and to prepare herself. She was the woman who lived in the same cell with
Zamfira. The volunteer went to her cell
and said to her: “The priest said that since tomorrow you will receive Holy
Communion you are to prepare yourself and you are to read the prayers in
preparation for Holy Communion.” “The
volunteer gave her the Book of Hours to read and as she did this Zamfira suddenly
spoke out saying: “I too want to go to Church tomorrow.” The volunteer
responded: “No, you are not going to Church because you do not sit
quietly.” Zamfira insisted saying: “I
beg you, I want to go. Give me a book to read.”

The
volunteer gave her the Book of Psalms. I do not know what she read or
how much
she read but the next day, a fellow inmate came to me and said to me:
“Father
Zamfira is not mentally well.” The
priest asked: “What are you trying to tell me?” “She cried all night
long. She would read and then cry. I do not know what she read but she
cried
very much.” “After I had heard the confessions of everyone, I went to
see
Zamfira. She was kneeling in a corner of
the chapel. She seemed to be crying and she did not say anything. I
asked her
if she wanted to confess her sins.” She responded: “Yes, Father I want
to
confess my sins but not the way all the others gave their confession.”
“Tell me
how do you want to confess your sins?”
“I want to confess in a loud voice in front of everyone.” “As I was
standing facing the icon of Christ, Zamfira turned towards everyone in
the
chapel and she started to confess her sins publicly.”

“Her
confession lasted for forty-five minutes.
With every sin she confessed she cried while genuflecting and saying: “I
beg you to forgive me.” Once she
finished her confession, I thought: should I give her Holy Communion? According to the rules of Saint Basil
concerning penance for carnal sins
committed, she should not be able to receive Communion for three hundred
years. I had learned that her
grandmother baptized her but she had never received Holy Communion. This would
be the first time she would receive Communion.
She had not eaten anything that morning. I was asking myself what Jesus would
do after hearing such a confession. I then thought about the Church‘s teaching
on this issue: If I give Holy Communion to an unworthy person then I would take
her sins upon myself. I decided to give
her Holy Communion. After receiving
Communion she glowed with such joy she started chanting Halleluiah. She was in such a state of joy that one rarely
sees in Christians who live sinful lives in the world.

That
night a prison guard called me. He said:
“Father, Zamfira has died.” “I arrived
at the prison at 9 p.m. and I asked one of her fellow inmates who had
also received
Holy Communion that day what happened and she said to me:” “Father, she
was
very happy that she had received Holy Communion. From early morning she
was praying to God and
was talking to me about God, about repentance, about faith and love.
She was crying because of her sins. About 8 p.m. she said to me:” “I am
not
feeling well, there is something wrong with me.” “She went into the
bathroom,
washed up, put on her best clothes and said: “I will now die, give me a
candle.” (Note: in some Orthodox Christian countries, people who are
preparing
for death always keep a lit candle next to them). “They brought her a
candle; she turned her head
toward the wall and died.” “The next day the doctors had a meeting.
They said her only physical problem was a
hernia and she needed an operation. They could not find anything else
that
would cause her sudden death. I believe
that God waits for each person to return to His loving embrace and when
this
happens and that person is spiritually cleansed, then God judges whether
or not
He will take them into His bosom.”

Priest: Viorel Kozokarou

GLORY TO GOD IN HIS HOLY SAINTS

ΔΟΞΑ ΤΩ ΘΕΩ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ

Translated: from the Slavonic into Greek by
Father George Konispolianis.

Αναγνώστες

About Blog:
We made this blog because we would like everyone to discover the Orthodox Christianity. This is the ultimate purpose of this blog: to share our faith! If, without our intention we insult copyrights, please inform us.
-Πληροφορίες Ιστολογίου:blueouranos@gmail.com